Warm Bread

From a good neighbor

“This sure is a grumpy neighborhood,” said Jennie as she came in the front door.

“What’s the matter now?” asked Mother.

“Well, every time I ride past Mrs. Langston’s house on my bike, she calls out, ‘Better oil your wheels—that squeak is awfully noisy!’ And Mr. Pratt says, ‘Watch out for my grass as you turn the corner!’

“I say hello to the neighbors and most of them look at me with surprise, like they don’t know I have a voice. Mother, do we have to stay here?” Jennie asked. “If we moved somewhere else, maybe things would be different.”

“You’re really upset aren’t you, Jennie? Why not take the opportunity to be a missionary in our neighborhood?” Mother suggested, putting an arm around her unhappy daughter.

Jennie sounded a little doubtful as she answered, “How could I do that?”

“You think about it, Jennie, and I will too,” Mother said on her way to the kitchen to fix supper. “I’m sure the two of us can come up with some ideas to make our neighborhood a friendlier place.”

Jennie was about to plop down on the couch when a loud knock sounded at the front door. But when she opened it nobody was there. However, someone had left a brown paper bag tied with a colorful ribbon on the doorstep. As Jennie picked up the bag, she could feel something warm inside. And the smell that came from the bag was heavenly. Inside was a small loaf of bread and a card that read, “To Jennie from your secret friend.”

Jennie carried the little loaf into the kitchen.

“What a wonderful smell!” Mother exclaimed.

“Yes, it’s a gift from my secret friend,” answered Jennie. “In our Merrie Miss class we decided to do something to make us feel closer to each other. We put all of our names in a box and then each of us drew one out. We’re supposed to do nice things for our secret friends without letting anyone know about it.”

“I hope your secret pal comes often,” said her brother Frank. “How about a piece of bread with butter and honey on it right now?”

Mother had a slice, too, and as the three of them sat around the kitchen table enjoying the freshly baked bread, Frank asked, “Hey Jennie, why don’t you learn to make bread like this?”

“I already know how, Frank. Our Primary class made small loaves as favors for our A Miss and Her Mom Party,” replied Jennie.

“Good!” said Frank. “Then you can bake some for us, and why not some for all of our grumpy neighbors.”

“That’s it!” said Jennie excitedly. “I could be a secret friend to each family in the neighborhood and I can begin by baking each one a small loaf of bread. Would that be all right, Mom?”

Mother was excited too. “Instead of signing the note ‘secret friend’” she suggested, “we could sign it, ‘a good neighbor.’ And then we could do other things later on.”

“That’s neat,” Frank said with an appreciative grin. “Nobody will know who to thank, so they’ll just be nice to everybody.”

“Could you use your saber saw to cut some small breadboards out of that scrap lumber in the garage?” Jennie asked.

“Sure,” said Frank. And they all laughed together when he added, “Cast your bread upon the waters. Who knows—someday it may come back a sandwich.”

Illustrated by Ron Eddington